On Jan. 28, they joined about a dozen other participants doing circuit training — cardio, stretches and strength training with resistance bands.

“Our goal is that by them learning to do it on Saturday, then the rest of the week they can go in their neighborhoods and work out together,” said Cheryl Resnik, the USC physical therapy professor who founded the program.

Because of the program, Matura now works out four times a week — including a Zumba class with her mom.

Making changes
Matura said she has dropped three clothing sizes. Bevas said she’s lost roughly 30 pounds.

Each week, staff members help participants make exercise and nutrition goals. The new lifestyle has improved her mood, Matura said.

“I was depressed. I used to not go out because I would cry a lot,” Matura said, noting the stress of health issues. “When I [recently] went and tried on some clothes that didn’t fit — and now do — I jumped.”

Fit Families, supported by a grant from USC’s Good Neighbors program, was the brainchild of students about a decade ago. It is geared toward low-income and Latino communities that surround the university’s Health Sciences Campus near Boyle Heights.

“I think all families want to be healthier,” Resnik said. “Providing something they can come to that’s free and in the neighborhood is a real plus.”

On Saturday, health educator Sarah Train’s theme for the nutrition component was gut health, taught in English and Spanish. Participants asked how fermented foods work and some tried sauerkraut for the first time.

Get cooking
Bevas and Matura joined in sampling the day’s recipe — a bowl of kale, broccoli, carrots and barley topped with a tofu-cilantro dressing and a bit of sauerkraut, which has probiotic powers.

“Before, I didn’t go in the kitchen,” Matura said.

Now she regularly cooks up the recipes she learns at Fit Families — such as a kale and corn salad she and her mom sometimes have for breakfast.

Resnik runs the program with staff out of the USC Graduate School and a slew of volunteers. She hopes to use the data they collect to eventually publish a study on the impact of such a clinic on a community like Boyle Heights.

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About Fit Families
WHO
The program is open to families, including children ages 7-17.

WHEN AND WHERE
It meets from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday during the academic year, from August to April, at Bravo Medical Magnet High School, 1200 Cornwell St., Los Angeles.